Computing and network technologies have transformed many aspects of everyday life. Computers have become household staples rather than luxuries, educational tools and/or entertainment centers, and provide individuals and corporations with tools to manage and forecast finances, control operations such as heating, cooling, lighting and security, and store records and images in a permanent and reliable medium. Networking technologies like the Internet provide individuals virtually unlimited access to remote systems, information and associated applications.
As computing and network technologies have evolved and have become more robust, secure and reliable, more consumers, wholesalers, retailers, entrepreneurs, educational institutions and the like are shifting paradigms and are employing the Internet to perform business, rather than employing traditional means. For example, today consumers can access their bank accounts on-line (e.g., via the Internet) and can perform an ever growing number of banking transactions such as balance inquiries, fund transfers, bill payments, and the like. In light of such technological advances and evolution, people in general tend to be more and more concerned about being connected and/or available for various communications such as cell phone calls, text messages, emails, instant messages, land line phone calls, voice mails, real-time communications, etc. With the rapid pace of today's society, being available and/or reachable on a constant basis is fitting for busy lifestyles be they personal or business.
In general, real-time communications can include communication applications that establish and manage connections or communication sessions between computing devices, users, machines, and the like. For instance, an instant messaging service can be utilized between two users on distinct machines, in order to communicate in real-time. Real-time communication services can utilize various mechanisms to establish a communication session such as, for instance, an application-level control protocol that computing devices can utilize to discover one another and manage communication sessions there between (e.g., establish, modify, terminate, etc.).
With the typical standard and desire of continuously being available and/or communicating in a time-efficient manner, instant messaging services have erupted onto the scene as a quick and efficient manner to communicate with one another. For instance, rather than walking over to a colleague's office or calling such colleague, an instant message can be sent which is quicker and less intrusive to the colleague. However, instant messaging proves effective only when the individual is physically present utilizing the instant messaging application. Following the above example, if the colleague is not in the office, the effectiveness of the instant messaging session is greatly reduced based on the lag and/or delay in waiting for a possible response. Moreover, status identifiers (e.g., away, do not disturb, out of office, etc.) only add to the ineffectiveness since the intended and/or possible instant messaging communication is abruptly halted.